Slaven Bilic’s Hammers are flying high in the Premier League - currently occupying seventh in the league table and still realistic contenders for a European spot.

The Black Cats are of course still battling relegation towards the foot of the table, but James believes that they can get a result on Sam Allardyce’s return to West Ham after he was sacked by them last summer.

That is providing they can match the form of their recent performances against Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United - in particularly against the two Manchester sides where they played very well but were only rewarded with points in the most recent against United.

The problem for the Black Cats is that a break from league fixtures for the FA Cup left them without a game last weekend and instead they visited Dubai on a warm-weather training camp which may have potentially halted any momentum from that win. It has allowed certain members of Allardyce’s squad to recover from injuries, however, with Seb Larsson, Jan Kirchhoff, Billy Jones and Younes Kaboul all back for the game.

Watch James Hunter’s pre-game thoughts ahead of Sunderland’s clash with West Ham.